Ownness [eigenheit] includes in itself everything own... But ownness has not any alien standard either, as it is not in any sense an idea like freedom, morality, humanity, and the like. It is only a description of the - owner.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Are we to believe John Burley's claims about himself - that he, as he is so fond of saying, “walks his talk”?

Back in 1997, while in Australia with Kiyosaki, Burley claimed, “I have 133 houses right now that pay me an infinite rate of return.” His promotional materials variously tout that he has done anywhere from 600 to 1000 “completed transactions.” As a skeptic, my first reaction is, “Yeah? Prove it!” Since Burley clearly has no intention to back up his claims with verifiable evidence, I took it upon myself to do a little investigation of the public record and then share what I found. I have to admit that I am a little surprised at the results.

Now, one could take issue with Burley’s usage of the word “have,” since many of the properties I found don't actually seem to be owned by him - and what the hell should we credulous fools consider a “transaction”? Buying a pack of gum at the Circle K? Also, his bragging about an “infinite rate of return” is no doubt calculated to really impress the neophyte investors in his audience, but when you think about it, it’s a meaningless claim. For example, I’ve got a job that pays me an infinite rate of return. Whoop-tee doo! And Burley’s claim that he doesn’t consider Burley & Associates to be a jobrings very hollow to me. Managing 100+ glorified rental properties may be lucrative, but it can’t be a cakewalk.

But I guess it’s ultimately fruitless to be quibbling over semantics. In compiling the list below, which is as complete as I could make it (for the time being) I discovered that, in fact, the rabbit hole goes very deep. Indeed, one may never be certain to have found the bottom.

If you are seriously considering sinking $5K into a Burley “Boot Camp,” you might want to take a peek down that rabbit hole for yourself. I’m sure you’ll arrive in Phoenix armed with endless lists of questions—all of which will probably be shouted down as verboten “Psychobabble!”

The people named are what John Burley describes as “Investor Partners.” Below their names are the Burley investment properties I have so far been able to find associated with them.

Mr. Norris appears to have a lot of recorded documents that seem unrelated to investing with John Burley, or even using his methods, though they do seem related to real estate investments. Christian Cluff

Many of Monte Bosch’s later properties are apparently not managed by John Burley or Burley & Associates. It appears that Dr. Bosch—a dentist in Sun City, by all appearances—was an excellent learner and decided he could go it alone. As such, a few of these properties are not associated with John Burley. Dr. Bosch has a number of others that I have chosen not to list.

I’m pretty sure this is an incomplete list. I still have more than a dozen or so documents to comb through.

2202 N 84th Ave.2476 E Cactus Rd. – This must have been one of Burley’s earliest deals. Look at this contract!3439 W Michigan Ave.6928 W Pierson St. – Another very early one.7027 W Kimberly Way – This is Burley’s home, actually.822 E Carol3844 W Caribbean Lane – This may be the very first property that John Burley purchased in the Phoenix area, althought title company records differ significantly from the records in the Maricopa county recorders office. According to Transnation Title, the house was purchased on March 1st, 1989, for $60K (loan $55.5K). County records, on the other hand, seem to indicate that the property was purchased in November 1991 by Shari Burley. What is perhaps even more interesting, though, is that Burley lists the house as "sold" on his ez2own1.com web page, even though he just recently borrowed $148K against it, and I can find no documentary evidence that this place has ever been one of Burley's "wrapped" houses.

John Burley began transferring properties into Nevada Limited Partnerships, under the GP umbrella of the Southwestern Endowment Fund, in 1996, and this process accelerated in 1998, as Burley’s legal entities proliferated. At that point, Burley’s contracts became more sophisticated and allowed for more privacy, making the finding of Burley houses difficult or impossible. The list above, as a result, is not a complete list of all the properties I have found and am still finding as I search the public record.

Rather than list all the couple dozens or so properties here individually (frankly, I've already spent way too much time on this post - my friends are starting to call me "obsessed"), below I've posted links to all the related recorded documentation I could find. I invite you to explore on your own from here.